A Little Dis-N-Dat Before a Long Weekend of Cubs Games

The Cubs play five games over the next three days, two in Las Vegas against the White Sox and three in Arizona versus the Brewers, Reds and Angels. Half of the roster made the trip with Alan Trammell and the other half will stay behind with Lou Piniella.

The Cubs will be on TV twice this weekend … Friday night on Comcast SportsNet and Sunday afternoon on WGN.

Here are a few tidbits on the first Friday following a full week of games … look for the Cubs to start making cuts from their 60-man Spring Training roster next week.

Notes from Mesa

Micah Hoffpauir, Kevin Millar, Ryan Theriot, Geovany Soto, Marlon Byrd, Kosuke Fukudome and Xavier Nady are among the players that made the trip to Las Vegas.

Alan Trammell will be the Cubs manager for both games in Vegas against the White Sox … Lou Piniella will manage his crew in both games in Arizona

This weekend is the second and third split-squad games of the spring for the Cubs … the first one was rained out last Sunday. The Cubs still have two split squad games on the schedule … March 20 (A’s and Royals) and March 31 (Angels and Brewers).

According to a report from Cubs.com, as expected Ted Lilly threw 35 pitches off a mound on Wednesday. Lilly had no problems with his shoulder and is expected to throw 40 pitches off the mound on Saturday. Lilly “is hopeful to get into a Cactus League game.”

Xavier Nady did not have any unusual soreness in his right elbow on Thursday. Nady made his spring debut on Wednesday and passed his first test.

Xavier Nady is expecting to start the season on the active roster according to a report from the Tribune. The Cubs think Nady will be able to play in the outfield “a couple of times a week in the early going.”

During an interview on the Afternoon Saloon (ESPN 1000), Ryne Sandberg said he is excited about the future of the Chicago Cubs. His future with the organization aside, Sandberg sees a hand full of the players he’s coached making an impact at the big league level for the Cubs.

Sandberg said that John Gaub, James Russell, Andrew Cashner, Casey Coleman and Marcos Mateo could help the Cubs at some point this year.

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